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The present invention relates to computer network systems, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method and apparatus for discovering the existence of internet protocol (IP) based devices and their relationship to each other, and based upon this information producing a corresponding graphical network map of the network.
Communication networks have changed the way people communicate, distribute, and share information. There are many different ways information can be accessed, shared, or communicated on a network. For example, communication networks are being used to access software applications running on a file-server, to send e-mail to someone in another room or even another country, and to access information on remote computer servers.
A network generally consists of many different network devices connected together to allow one device to benefit from another. Some of these network devices include switches, routers, repeaters, hubs, terminals, servers, queuing devices, and peripheral equipment such as printers, modems, and scanners.
Communication networks allow the user to access remote programs and remote databases either of the same organization or from other enterprises or public sources. They also provide communication possibilities faster than other facilities. Because of these optimal information and communication possibilities, communication networks will often increase the organizational learning rate, which many authors declare as the only fundamental advantage in competition.
Because networks often spread out over many floors or even cities, network management systems are an invaluable tool in monitoring and maintaining the networks operation. One network management tool is the simple network management protocol (SNMP). SNMP is a transmission protocol that was originally developed to manage nodes on a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) based network but has become widely accepted as a standard for LAN network management as well and is used to manage and monitor a variety of network devices including computers, routers, hubs, bridges and repeaters.
SNMP generally consists of three parts: structure of management information (SMI); management information base (MIB); and the protocol itself. The SMI and MIB define and store the set of managed entities. The SNMP itself conveys information to and from these entities.
Through the use of graphical user interfaces (GUI), network maps have also become a helpful tool in managing and maintaining networks. A network map is a graphical representation or model of the network itself including all the network devices that make up the network. A user can then easily access and control the operation of a select network device with just the xe2x80x98clickxe2x80x99 of a mouse on the corresponding representative icon.
As can be appreciated, when creating or maintaining a network map, there is an important need to not only reliably discover each of the network devices on the network, but to also accurately discover their relationships with each other to ensure a accurate usable graphical network map.
Thus, there is a market for network management systems that can more readily discover network devices and identify the relationship among the network devices. Any tool which saves the user time and makes it easier to determine the specifics of a network enhances the utility of a network management system.
The present invention overcomes the above identified problems as well as other shortcomings and deficiencies of existing technologies by providing a method and apparatus for discovering, identifying and graphically representing network devices on a network. The devices are discovered by obtaining the gateway address of the management workstations and then reading the internet protocol address table and the ARP cache from each gateway via SNMP. Each address read is compared with existing IP addresses, and if new, device IDs are created and assigned. Select attributes are then assigned to each device and then the devices are then identified. The devices are identified by making a DNS request on the corresponding IP address to determine the network name of the device. Using SNMP the system name and object ID (OID) are obtained for each of the devices. The OID is then compared and matched with known OIDs to identify the device. The devices are graphically connected and laid out by creating a submap based on the IP address and mask pairs for each device. The routers connected, the bridges are then connected and finally the repeaters are connected.